Mirror's Edge Catalyst Reviews
Faith is restored to a visually striking world she deserves in the return of the first-person parkour title – but, as with the original, niggles stop it achieving greatness
Mirror's Edge Catalyst has some exciting and refined free-running mechanics, but the missions and modes that support the gameplay are content-thin and generic.
Sometimes it takes more than a great heroine, innovative action, and buckets of style to make a game truly great
Mirror's Edge: Catalyst rarely, if ever, makes as memorable an impression as its predecessor did. While it tries incredibly hard to do so, and succeeds in terms of world building and story development, it's all at the sake of nearly every other facet that players of the original may have held near and dear.
While Catalyst keeps up the great first-person parkour action of the first game, the awkward smashing of its parts into the ubiquitous, open-world model hasn't done Mirror's Edge any favors. The overall aesthetic and sense of momentum still have their charms, but it's disappointing to see EA Dice take such a safe, predictable approach with what once felt like a boldly unique property.
A better game than the original, but it still suffers from many of the same problems – with desperately uninteresting storytelling and combat.
Mirror's Edge: Catalyst is an interesting game with some strong ideas but not enough variety.
The overall rating might be harsh, it could have been a bit higher, but for a game that has "Mirror's Edge" in the title there must be consequences. The rating is more of a warning not to make the same mistakes again. ME deserves far more than average.
Mirror's Edge Catalyst has some great concepts going for it that are ultimately being held back by technical issues. I can't help but feel these could have been worked out. With no real multiplayer component, the single player experience needs to be wholly satisfying. Unfortunately, this game is way more frustrating than fun.
As much passion as I had for the continuation of the Mirror's Edge franchise, it seems like DICE has effectively robbed all of the wind from my sails. Though the game is fine as a mediocre playable experience, many of the things that made the original so special have been neutered beyond repair.
Mirror's Edge Catalyst isn't as good as it should be. It's maddening, because there's so much potential here for it to be a good game, but so many odd design decisions result in an experience that's actually less than the sum of its parts.
This genre-blender experiments with the traditional sandbox formula, but fails to encapsulate the fun elements of an open world
To be honest, I was disappointed shortly after I first started playing Mirror's Edge Catalyst as I was put off by the open world approach that quickly got boring and repetitive.
A radical city in a failed system
The staples of Mirror's Edge remain refreshing and unique in the first-person genre in 2016, but Catalyst's attempts to keep up with the open-world Joneses don't always jive with its design strengths of movement and momentum. On top of that, muddy-looking console versions and a lame story filled with unlikable characters doom Mirror's Edge's return to fall short. I was so happy this game was being made, but in the end I'm just as disappointed in how it turned out.
The open world design shows potential, but keep running: If you stop, so will the fun.
I want this franchise to excel, but just as the first game struggled to get off the ground, Catalyst struggles to soar as well. The core gameplay and artistic direction have vastly improved for this entry, and while it explores new territory with an open world and a grander narrative that act as solid foundations, they're squandered since little is built atop them to make this game tower above its peers. Despite these letdowns, DICE now has an even better framework to construct a phenomenal sequel, and I earnestly hope it will seize and run after this opportunity. I have faith in Faith's future, but her time to shine hasn't been struck just yet.
A solid free running game that is bogged down by it’s own ambition into changing the formula, come the city but stay for the gameplay… But PLEASE just disregard the story.